Staying on property vs not...

[nana50]

The main advantages are hard to explain because not everyone cares about the same things. For me, the hotel experience is very important. No matter how much people rave about their favorite Harbor motels, there is not one of them that comes close to what you get at a DLR hotel. They simply can't afford to offer acres of landscaped grounds, gazebos, restaurants, shopping, activities, etc etc. They don't have marble, granite, or even real glass instead of plastic in most of them. They don't have luxury bath supplies, characters in the lobby, topiary Disney shrubs, a giant lit Sorcerer's hat, *character meals, private park entrances, discounts on taxis, package delivery to the hotel, early entry for every single day of your stay, DTD steps away, the monorail next door, etc etc. At the resort hotels there are *spas, waterslides, pools & hot tubs, *onsite childcare, special activities for guests, and entertainment, rooms that often have a lot of Disney magic (music and fireworks in the headboard, for instance!) and a sense of being in the heart of Disney.

*these items have a fee

It's not cheap to offer all of that. It isn't cheap to maintain and refurbish the way Disney does. The prices of the hotels reflect the fact that it costs a lot more to give guests a resort experience than a motel and also that the demand is high enough to set a higher price. The nice thing is that at DLR, you have the option to choose to pay to stay at the resort or save your money for other things and still enjoy the parks. It's not a bad idea at all to mix it up and stay onsite once (or once in a while) and offsite at other times.

Most of the time, I stay onsite. There is nothing like it for me. However, I go often and my agenda is broader than hitting the parks non-stop. I love to enjoy the lounge at GCH, shop in DTD, lounge by the pool, etc. I love having a retreat to go to during the day and return to at night.

For me, the hotel is not just a place to sleep but an integral part of my DLR experience, so I'm willing to pay more. I usually go when prices are lowest and discounts are offered. I use my AP for room and dining discounts when they are best, and in the past this has made my onsite stays only somewhat higher than offsite prices. That is probably not going to be true this year, as it seems that prices will be higher with the opening of CL and the DLH refurb. Still, if you watch for deals you can usually swing an onsite stay for a decent price.

One last piece of information about this is the fact that I usually think of a DLR trip as about 2-4 nights. Longer stays can definitely add up.

I agree 100%. It is not just the parks, the hotel is part of the vacation also. I have spoiled my kids, and now I'm spoiling the grand kids. Their favorite things are the pool and room service breakfast. The memories of the hotel have stayed with my kids also. Do it once, at least once. I strongly suggest the newly renovated Disneyland Hotel. Not only are the new rooms beautiful, the pools and grounds are fabulous. I love staying there. As for the grand, yes it is lovely, but the rooms are small, the pool isn't as good as DLH and anyone can sit in the lobby. He must at least try it once before putting the kabosh on it. I love going back to the hotel in the afternoon for a swim and a rest before going back in the evening.

 

[engo]

Renting DVC points at the Villas at the Grand Californian is the only way my family could afford to stay on property. For 6 nights in January, we are paying $178.33 per night, final cost.

VGC is great isn't it? There is no resort fee or tax either, which could easily save you $150-200 for a week in the summer, not to mention free parking if you have a car. With Carsland opening it seems that the demand for VGC has surged, so anyone looking for points should plan ahead and secure a room no less than 7 months prior to their trip.

OP, may be you can look into renting points for 1 night stay at the VGC for the on-site experience. But I must warn you, once you've tried it there is no going back, at least that was the case with our family.

 

[SomeDude78]

For me it's pretty simple: if it's on your bucket list, stay onsite at least once or twice. It really is a different experience. At the end of the day, is it really worth the extra money? Probably not. But then again most bucket list things aren't and that's the whole point

Personally I like the DLH over the GCH. It's a longer walk for sure and the lobby is nowhere near as upscale as the GCH's foyer, but the standard rooms are about the same size and DLH's room decor is a lot prettier IMO. You don't get a private balcony at DLH but you get a big glass window that makes for nice viewing if you're facing the park or the pool.

We've stayed at hotels all around the area so we do both offsite and onsite. You can't lose either way. The walking-distance offsite hotels do require walking down Harbor but that street isn't any different than other major streets in major metropolitan areas ... there is traffic, there are sometimes beggars, etc. etc. In fact it's a lot cleaner and safer than most big streets in California (coming from someone who's lived in LA and the SF Bay for the last 25+ years). Plus you're from BC - if you've ever walked through downtown Vancouver at night, there's not much on Harbor that's going to weird you out haha

The caveat to keep in mind about staying offsite is that you're saving more money than the hotel itself. You'll walk by cheap restaurants like McDonald's and Mimi's Cafe instead of the expensive places in Downtown Disney. You'll likely pay less for parking. And so on. So in reality the monetary gap between staying onsite and offsite is even bigger than it first appears.

But ... all that having been said ... it's on the bucket list, so JUST DO IT and stay onsite. It'll be a great experience, and then you won't be left to wonder. Save money when you're at home. When you're on vacation, spend and don't look back because you ain't taking it with ya at the end of the road

 

[dopeyfanatic]

Staying onsite is something to do once if you can afford, but for Disneyland not a deal breaker in the least for me. I have been probably 50 times, twice onsite. A lot of the off site hotels are closer. I happen to not spend time in my room, I'm in the park from open to close, no naps. To convince your husband you need to tap into the relaxing aspect of it. Take your time, be leisurely with your schedule....the hotels are super nice, but since i have been to WDW I also no they come no where to comparing to those hotels and therefore don't interest me as much. They are very nice hotels though, certainly deluxe compared to most other hotels around there. I would try and split your stay, ending onsite.

 

[huskies90]

I'm a dvc member and was hoping to snag a couple of nights using points at VGC at the end of July but with so few dvc rooms and the popularity of that time of year, I am not holding my breath that the waitlist will come through. This trip is a stopover for me and my girlfriend on our way to San Diego so it is only 2 nights. For that duration, we can justify the super high rate as we both are dying to stay at GC. My question is outside of a AAA discount, is there any other current or potential discount?

 

[Argento]

Save money when you're at home. When you're on vacation, spend and don't look back because you ain't taking it with ya at the end of the road

Amen, dude!

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

The main perk to staying on-site was well put on another thread discussing this, its that you never have to leave the Disney "bubble". The service is phenomenal, everything is squeaky clean, there's little to no traffic to deal with, you park your car then only walk through DTD to get to the parks, and reality doesn't intrude on your vacation.

We love the parks, but no longer do them like we used to, now we go and relax and enjoy going back and forth to the room/pool etc.

If you're just going to open and close the parks and not use the pools/go back for naps, its wasted money (other than the MMs) to upgrade to on-site. However, if you want a vacation experience that takes advantage of all the amenities and makes the realities of life go away (ie indigents on Harbor, gum on the street, etc), then its simply magical to stay on-site.

We can't afford it for every trip, but for the ones we can it really transforms the experience.

I couldn't have said it better. As you can see by my signature, we stay off site as often as we stay onsite. Off site is great, but there is nothing that beats staying onsite. I love never having to leave the bubble of Disney magic. I know others feel they don't, but I do when we stay off site.

With small kids we spend a lot of time back at the hotel. It is nice to be so close where one of us can take the smaller ones back for naps while the bigger ones stay with the other parent in the park or whatever. Or when everybody is napping, I can go stroll DTD without going too far. Yes these are all things that can we could do staying off site, but it's easier and less stressful to do onsite.

And of course the MM are important to us!

Our last trip was off site, as will our Oct one. Nov we are staying on site at GCH and I am so excited!

 

[limace]

I didn't read where anyone made it sound awful, but it is absolutely true that you will encounter hawkers & street people. I have twice had to step over a homeless person lying across the sidewalk at night. Once I heard a rustling in the bushes as I was walking on the sidewalk back to Hojo's (across the street) and saw a man in there. It was just my daughter and me, and though nothing happened it still made me uneasy and I will not walk on that side of the street at night now. I saw someone's kid almost get hit by a car crossing at the main crosswalk. I just don't like Harbor and there is no way it compares with DTD. Some of the motels are technically closer, but it really does not feel like it to me. You have to wait for traffic, you have to go with the flow of all the others walking with you, and while not awful, the area's not great, either. Walking through DTD is still an exercise in commercialism, but it's less strip mall and more resorty.

I have never paid 4 times as much for a DLR hotel. In fact, I've paid a relatively small amount more than I'd have spent at BWPPI, PVI, or Hojo. On average, I spend about $75 night more for DLH or GCH. Sure, that adds up, but you're not just throwing it away--you're getting more for your money. For some that's not a big deal, for others it's huge. We usually stay 3 nights so it's $225 more for my family of 5 to stay onsite. Whether or not that's worth it is a very individual assessment. You should see something similar in Oct.
.

With a high schooler, we now can only o during school breaks if we want to go for longer than a long weekend. For our dates in August, we are paying about 135 a night for a suite at either BWPPI or DI&S. GCH would be $500 and DLH $400, so 3-4 times as much. Admittedly much nicer hotels, but a tight fit for more than a couple days for a family of five like mine, and I'm guessing they won't be four times as much fun.

 

[canadian_ehngel]

That's a lot of great things to add to my argument! I think the idea of staying a couple nights at the end of the trip would be the best way to get him to agree. Thank you!!

 

[BlueBayou]

For the most (talking regular rates, not deals) I don't think staying on site is a deal breaker. We have stayed GCH, DLH, PPH, HOJO (2), Camelot (2), CCI, Desert Inn (2), Tropicana, BWPI.

If we can get a good deal and have a compelling reason to do it, like my mom with mobility issues coming along - we pay the extra money. But when you are dealing with a DLR hotel - you must factor in parking/resort fees too. I know more of the harbor hotels now have them, but the fees add up.

We had a great stay at GCH ($205 a night soon after 9-11, when they were hurting for business) and our most recent stay with my mom at PPH was very, very good. I would take our stays at 3 harbor hotels over our experience at DLH. The trip was great, the hotel experience was just eh.

And to address the harbor safety issue. I have never felt unsafe walking alone with a young child back to the hotel (leaving my husband and older one in the park). You are ALWAYS with a group of people crossing at the crosswalk together. Unless you closed down the park - shopped for the 15 or 30 minutes they let you shop after park closing - I can't imagine you not have a group of people. In my many times - I think I had somebody ask me for money once as I headed to the HOJOs. There were TONS of people around and I was in no way fearful for my personal safety.

Off site shuttle services can be an issue. Candy Cane Inn's was GREAT. We intended to walk some - but ended up using the shuttle every time. We did run into some people waiting for shuttles to other off site hotels who were not nearly as pleased.

Personally - I would always stay somewhere within walking distance, even if a shuttle is available.

 

[canadian_ehngel]

It's very unlikely to drive down there (or rent a car) with our kids the ages they are right now, so parking isn't an issue.

As for the safety issues on Harbor, when we went 2 years ago, I walked 20 minutes to our hotel from DL several times (I had the worst cold I've ever experienced while at DL) with just my 18-month-old (at the time), and never had a problem. So I'm not overly worried about that. We're staying at the Anaheim Plaza, which from what I read is pretty close.

 

[hootey]

We budget for our trips to DLR, that includes all of the extras we get from disney. That includes the pools, rooms, easy access to parks, shopping & restaruant conveniance, and the security. Also it is nice to get home after such a trip and not recieve a credit card bill for the trip. We enjoy that a lot..

 

[dadofnicholas]

I think you've gotten a lot of good info already.

I just took my 4-year-old on his first trip to Disneyland and we stayed at the GCH. We also visited the other on-site hotels but we didn't visit any off-site hotels so can't provide any help there.

Personally for me, it's LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION like another poster mentioned. It sounds like off-site hotels are not too far and there are good shuttles to and from but for me as a single parent, walking a few minutes less and not having to rely on shuttles helped each day. I think my son and I would have had fun if we stayed off-site but maximizing every minute made our trip a memorable one. No stress at all.

I would surely stay on-site again (most likely at GCH) for our next trip. Personally, a standard room is fine - we didn't stay there much except afternoon naps and sleeping

Good luck!